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In the mid-2000s, you could be forgiven for thinking action films had gotten a little stale. The genre tends to go in waves; whenever something hits in a big way, you get derivative, increasingly stale copies. Think about all the Die Hard rip-offs or the way every movie tried to copy The Matrix with bullet time and wire-work post-1999. Heck, we’re experiencing it right now with superhero movies and John Wick clones. Whenever this happens, it’s more-or-less left to international cinema to come along and shake us up with something different, done far outside the mainstream, to revitalize the genre. That happened in 2004, when a small movie from France, District 13, introduced Parkour to mainstream audiences.

So, what’s Parkour? Think of it as free running in an urban setting mixed with acrobatics and martial arts. It was founded by the star of District 13, David Belle, a Parisian...

The ending of Fox's "Bones" wasn't quite as dark as fans might have expected. However, its heroes' respective paths to a happy ending aren't what you'd call easy. Just ask John Boyd's James Aubrey, a young FBI agent who joins the main ensemble in season 10 and eventually establishes himself as Seeley Booth's (David Boreanaz) partner. 

Over the course of his three seasons on the show, Aubrey starts out as a concerned and sometimes mistrusted semi-outsider who mostly gets a pass because Lance Sweets (John Francis Daley) vouches for him. He then rises to his own after Sweets' untimely death and becomes a key member of the team for the remainder of the series. During this time, Aubrey receives grievous injuries, deals with serious family troubles, and even ends his high-profile relationship with Jessica Warren (Laura Spencer) just as the show draws to a close -- although, true to the...

Schwarzenegger. Stallone. Van Damme. Gibson. Snipes. Ford. When you make a list of the most popular action heroes of all time, there’s another name that needs to be added to that list – Liam Neeson. Over the last sixteen years, he’s headlined a neverending series of action thrillers that have propelled him to a much higher echelon of fame than he’d ever been on before, with him only ever becoming an action star once he was fifty-six. Ultimately, it was all due to a low-budget, European-financed action flick, which came very close to going direct-to-video and reached theatres in Europe a full year before it opened in North America. That movie is Taken, and we’re going to tell you how it revitalized the career of a man who – at the time – was generally considered a top-tier character actor with limited box office appeal. That’s right – it...

The career of Liam Neeson is a testament to his ability to evolve and surprise audiences. Known for fan-favorite titles like Love Actually and Taken, the Irish actor got his start in theater and minor dramas before breaking into Hollywood. Early on, his intensity and physical presence hinted at action-hero potential — signs that Neeson was destined to become an action star long before Taken made it undeniable. The role of Bryan Mills, a skilled former operative with an intense resume, turned him into an unexpected daredevil at an age when many actors slow down.

Beyond action, Neeson has appeared in some of the highest-grossing movies of all time. The star’s towering presence and deep voice add gravitas to every film, whether he’s commanding the screen in heartfelt dramas or dominating the action genre. It’s this unique blend that keeps audiences coming back for more Liam Neeson, whether...

Prime Video has been tossing up a healthy mix of streaming "content" of late, and has been seeing success with its diverse slate. Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Shailene Woodley's murder mystery "Killer Heat" dominated Prime Video in October of 2024, which followed the success of the Awkwafina and John Cena comedy "Jackpot!" in August. Now, it's time for the new action thriller "Canary Black" to have a turn.

The movie comes from French filmmaker and "Taken" director Pierre Morel, who has much to answer for simply by virtue of the fact he launched Liam Neeson into his seemingly never-ending grizzled hard-man era (an age that has also produced some of Neeson's worst movies). Now, Morel has turned his sights on poor old Kate Beckinsale, who fronts "Canary Black" as CIA agent Avery Graves. The film finds Graves being blackmailed by terrorists who want her to retrieve the titular file in order...

New story details surrounding an upcoming action movie suggest that Milla Jovovich might be the perfect replacement for Liam Neeson's Taken character. When director Pierre Morel's Taken first hit the big screens in 2008, it received mixed reviews from critics. While some appreciated how it offered escapist fantasy to male audiences across the globe, others could not help but overlook how it seemed derivative of many similar films from the past.

Despite being divisive, however, Taken performed incredibly well at the box office by earning $226 million against a budget of $25 million. The film played a crucial role in turning Liam Neeson into an action star. Its success even spawned multiple sequels, allowing Neeson to have a full-fledged action franchise under his belt. A decade after Liam Neeson last played Bryan Mills in Taken 3, it is hard to imagine anyone else portraying the character. However, after all these years,...

Kate Beckinsale's 2024 spy movie is a streaming success despite its 30% Rotten Tomatoes audience score. The English actress made her feature film debut in 1993 with a brief role in Kenneth Branagh's Much Ado About Nothing and, during the remainder of the 1990s, continued to star in British costume dramas such as Prince of Jutland, Cold Comfort Farm, Emma, and The Golden Bowl. During the early 2000s, Beckinsale starred in films from a variety of genres, including Michael Bay's Pearl Harbor, the romantic comedy Serendipity, Martin Scorsese's The Aviator, and Click.

However, since taking on the role of Selene in the Underworld franchise from 2003 to 2016, Kate Beckinsale has become best known for action movies, also including Van Helsing, Whiteout, Contraband, Total Recall, and Jolt. She's also received some critical acclaim for her performances in smaller dramas such as Snow Angels, Nothing but the Truth, Everybody's Fine, Love & Friendship,...

Canary Black, starring Kate Beckinsale, delivers high-stakes action, intense espionage, and the thrill of watching a rogue operative outsmart her enemies against impossible odds. Directed by Pierre Morel, who also helmed Taken, this film introduces audiences to Avery Graves, a CIA agent forced to go underground after her husband is kidnapped by a group demanding sensitive intelligence. Unaware of her true identity as a spy, her husband’s kidnapping pulls Avery into a treacherous chase across Europe as she tries to retrieve the classified “Canary Black” file to save him. With relentless chases and plenty of stylish flair, Canary Black might have been something you wanted to see but did not get enough of because of the restriction that streaming brings with it. So, in the following list, I will not down 5 other movies that you might like if you thought Canary Black was interesting.

1. Salt (2010)

In Salt, Angelina Jolie stars as Evelyn Salt,...

Kate Beckinsale proudly showed off the injuries she sustained from doing stunt work for her action-thriller “Canary Black” after a film review suggested she was only involved in the close-up shots.

“Kicking impeccably chic ass and a couple of close ups doesn’t half hurt lol,” the actress wrote in a Saturday Instagram post. Beckinsale’s caption mocked the headline of the critic’s article at The Guardian: “Canary Black review – Kate Beckinsale kicks impeccably chic ass in gender-flipped Taken.”

TheWrap also reviewed the movie, here. Beckinsale stars in the Pierre Morel-directed film as a CIA operative named Avery Graves, who must use her skills to solve a rather cookie-cutter kidnapping.

The actress also posted an excerpt in which the reviewer wrote: “Stunt doubles probably did the heavy lifting in the blurrily edited hand-to-hand combat scenes and sequences where Graves flies through the air holding on to a massive drone,...

Plot: A top CIA operative, Avery Graves, is blackmailed by terrorists into betraying her own country to save her kidnapped husband. Cut off from her team, she turns to her underworld contacts to help locate the coveted intelligence that the kidnappers want. As she is betrayed at every turn, Avery finds herself in a deadly race to deliver a ransom that could trigger a global crisis.

Review: Thirty years ago, mediocre action movies were populated with mid-level or over-the-hill action stars and had their release relegated to video stores. These same movies were commonly found at your local Redbox a decade ago. Today, the glut of streaming services constantly needs new fodder to entice audiences to choose them over the competition, which means projects that otherwise would not be able to land top talent are now showcases for movie stars slumming it for a paycheck. Canary Black boasts a director...

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Canary Black is a spy action thriller film directed by Pierre Morel from a screenplay by Matthew Kennedy. The Prime Video film follows Avery Graves, an exceptional CIA agent whose husband is kidnapped by terrorists to blackmail her into stealing sensitive information that would betray her country. Canary Black stars Kate Beckinsale in the lead role with Rupert Friend, Ray Stevenson, Saffron Burrows, Ben Miles, and Michael Brandon starring in supporting roles. So, if you loved the explosive action, thrilling story, and compelling characters in Canary Black here are some similar movies you should check out next.

Salt (Netflix & Rent on Prime Video) Credit – Columbia Pictures

Salt is a spy action thriller film directed by Phillip Noyce from a screenplay by Kurt Wimmer. The 2010 film follows Evelyn Salt, an exceptional CIA agent who is wrongfully accused of killing the Russian president.

Warning: Major spoilers for Canary Black below!Canary Black delivers a major twist involving mystery assassin Kali during the third act - but this comes far too late. Canary Black cast Kate Beckinsale as CIA agent Avery who is forced to go rogue to save her kidnapped husband, David (Rupert Friend). The film is the latest thriller from director Pierre Morel, who specializes in action thrillers like Taken or The Gunman that take famed dramatic actors like Sean Penn or Liam Neeson and have them punching and shooting their way out of trouble.

Of course, with her years of experience battling vampires and werewolves in the Underworld saga, Beckinsale is no stranger to action. She also proves to be the Canary Black's highlight, making up for the story's leaps in logic or falling back on genre clich. Canary Black's ending makes the movie's franchise intentions very clear, with Avery having...

Unaware he’s married to a spy, Beckinsale’s husband is kidnapped – cue the baddies demanding a secret file, fancy action sequences, lots of gunshots and a nice trenchcoat

French director Pierre Morel oversaw the making of the first Taken film, the action thriller wherein former CIA-agent Liam Neeson pursues bad guys who kidnap his teenage daughter, and later abduct both the hero and his wife in subsequent sequels. So clearly someone thought there was no one better than Morel to direct what is effectively a remake of Taken, this time a story in which a female spy with a very particular set of skills must rescue her kidnapped husband, who knows nothing of her espionage career. The result is blandly generic with the gender flip not bringing much to the table apart from some cheerable lines where the heroine upbraids her opponents for using the slur “bitch” in the workplace.

Pressing play on an action movie like “Canary Black” is like ordering at McDonald’s. You’ve already agreed to lower your standards, so you don’t get to complain that it’s ultra-processed junk food. That’s what you signed up for. You were in the mood for middle-of-the-road comfort sustenance and that’s all you have any right to expect.

But we’ve all been to a fast food joint where, yes, you technically got what you paid for, but it was so greasy you could barely eat it. Or it got squashed for no discernible reason. Or it’s got a hair in it. Sure, you ordered off the dollar menu but even the dollar menu makes a few meager promises, and if they can’t even get that right… well, you have “Canary Black.”

“Canary Black” is a new kidnapping thriller from Pierre Morel, who 15 years ago directed “Taken.

Pierre Morel’s action thriller film, Canary Black, delivers a good dose of action but not enough to make up for the run-of-the-mill storyline. CIA agent Avery Graves found herself in trouble when she received a call informing her that her husband had been kidnapped. David did not know that Graves was a CIA agent. The couple were deeply in love, and Avery was ready to go to any length to bring her husband home. The kidnapper instructed Graves to find the ‘Canary Black’ file and hand it to him. She searched for the file in the system but could not find it there. The kidnapper asked her to dig deep, and Avery had little choice. She did not expect the agency to understand that she was still loyal to them and had every intention of retrieving the file as soon as David was returned. Avery was soon declared a...

“Canary Black” is a movie starring Kate Beckinsale with Rupert Friend, Ben Miles, and Ray Stevenson. It is directed by Pierre Morel.

Kate Beckinsale returns to her favored genre, the action thriller, playing her specialty role as a lone heroine. Audiences are well-acquainted with her performances in similar roles, and in this film, which feels like a reiteration of many others, she delivers precisely what viewers anticipate: action-packed sequences, high-speed chases, and an internationally intriguing yet entirely formulaic espionage narrative. The film adheres strictly to the conventions of the genre, meeting all expectations except for one: the element of surprise.

Plot Summary

CIA agent Avery Graves faces a dire predicament: her husband has been kidnapped, and his captors demand a file named “Canary Black” for his release. Branded a target by her own agency, the CIA, she must operate solo to clear her name from allegations of treason while also striving to rescue her husband.

What to Watch This Weekend: October 25th to 27th (Photo Credit – Instagram)

This weekend, we’ve chosen just two movies hitting the big screen, but don’t worry—there are plenty of options to stream at home! Over on Prime Video, you can catch a crime investigation about a serial killer, a spy thriller, and a touching story about life’s ups and downs. Netflix is bringing you five new picks, starting with a horror flick, a murder mystery, a soap opera, a film focused on some real talk, and an Australian series about a family power struggle. Plus, there are additional titles on Jio Cinema, Disney+ Hotstar, Zee5, and Apple TV. So, scroll down for all the titles, watch the trailers, and check out the overviews. It’ll make things much easier for you.

On The Big Screen

Venom: The Last Dance (English)

Written and directed by Kelly Marcel,...

Pierre Morel’s Canary Black stars Kate Beckinsale as CIA agent Avery Graves, whose life is turned upside down when her husband David is kidnapped. Forced to choose between country and loved ones, Avery embarks on a perilous mission to retrieve classified intelligence and save her spouse.

At the helm is French director Pierre Morel, known for pulse-pounding action flicks like Taken. Canary Black releases on Amazon Prime later this fall, and there’s potential for edge-of-your-seat thrills.

Yet Avery’s assignment may turn out more complicated than expected. Between betraying colleagues and eluding capture, she’ll face deception at every turn. Who can she trust as the line blurs between allies and foes? And how high will the stakes climb with a shadowy virus called “Canary Black” in the mix? Viewers will just have to hit play to see if Avery can keep her wits amid the danger and turmoil closing in around her.

Apart from walking through several action set pieces and a thrilling drama, Canary Black also features memorable character beats driven by the compelling performances of its cast members. Directed by Pierre Morel, Canary Black is another addition to Amazon Prime Video's roster of action movies. Although its title might suggest it has something to do with DC Comics' Black Canary, the film follows an original story that focuses on a CIA agent on the run.

Canary Black's filming primarily took place in Zagreb, Croatia, and even the scenes that portray Tokyo in the movie's storyline were shot in the Croatian city of Rovinj. When it comes to the movie's cast, it features both familiar and new faces as its leads. Since many viewers may be curious about who plays whom in Canary Black's story after watching it on Prime Video, it is worth breaking down the key characters and the talented actors behind them.

Prime Video has launched the first official trailer for Kate Beckinsale's next kickass actioner Canary Black, which will see the former Underworld star play a top CIA operative that is forced to go rogue to save her kidnapped husband while simultanously working to prevent the start of World War 3.

The full synopsis reads, "A top CIA operative, Avery Graves, is blackmailed by terrorists into betraying her own country to save her kidnapped husband. Cut off from her team, she turns to her underworld contacts to survive and help locate the coveted intelligence that the kidnappers want. Betrayed at every turn, she must rely on her cutting-edge training and primitive fighting skills in a deadly race to deliver a ransom that could trigger a global crisis."

This will mark the second action film Beckinsale has launched on Prime Video in recent years, following 2021's Jolt. Her series The Widow was also launched on the streamer,...

“Canary Black”, directed by Pierre Morel, is a new action ‘spy’ thriller, starring Kate Beckinsale (“Underworld”), Rupert Friend, Ray Stevenson (“The Punisher”) and Saffron Burrows, streaming October 24, 2024 on Amazon Prime Video:

“…’Avery Graves’ is a ‘CIA’ agent whose husband has been kidnapped by terrorists. The kidnappers blackmail Graves for information that would betray her country…”

Click the images to enlarge…...

Canary Black, a spy action thriller from Taken director Pierre Morel that stars Kate Beckinsale of the Underworld franchise, began filming in late 2022 and wrapped production in January of 2023. Now the movie is finally ready to make its way out into the world, as it’s scheduled to reach Amazon’s Prime Video streaming service on October 24th – and with that date exactly one month away, a trailer for Canary Black has arrived online. You can check it out in the embed above.

Scripted by Matthew Kennedy, who previously wrote the Lily Collins / Simon Pegg thriller Inheritance, Canary Black has the following synopsis: A top CIA operative, Avery Graves, is blackmailed by terrorists into betraying her own country to save her kidnapped husband. Cut off from her team, she turns to her underworld contacts to survive and help locate the coveted intelligence that the kidnappers want. Betrayed at every turn,...

In his previous collaboration with Romain Duris, “Our Struggles” director Guillaume Senez cast the Parisian star as a workaholic forced to spend a lot more time with his kids when their mother abruptly left home one day. Six years on, the pair have reunited to tell the opposite story of a father doing everything in his power to reunite with his daughter who’s been snatched away in another country.

If that conjures up memories of Liam Neeson growling into a phone, have no fear. The handiwork of “fellow French director, “Taken” director Pierre Morel is nowhere to be found. Instead, Senez takes a far more naturalistic approach to the streets of Tokyo, where a man named Jay (Duris) works as a driver for a private car service while searching for the daughter his ex wife stopped him from seeing nine years prior. As a French immigrant, Romain’s protagonist...

Neeson's dive into action with Taken sparked a successful path in the genre, paving the way for The Grey's chilling intensity. The Grey stands out as Neeson's peak action film, boasting critical acclaim and intense survival sequences. Compared to Taken, The Grey offers a bone-chilling fight for survival that solidifies Neeson's action star status.

Liam Neeson's best action film since 2008's Taken will soon be leaving streaming. The Ireland-born actor fosters an illustrious career dating back to the late 70s and has not only performed but excelled in films of various genres, i.e., the 1993 historical epic Schindler's List, for which he earned an Academy Award nomination and the 2004 biographical romance Kinsey that drew him a Golden Globe nomination. In 2008, Neeson unexpectedly took a chance at a genre with a bit more grit by starring in the cast of Pierre Morel's action thriller Taken and shone there, too.

Frank Herbert's "Dune" is an unkillable intellectual property. The novel was rejected by a multitude of publishing houses before a company best known for putting out auto-repair manuals took a chance on the sandswept sci-fi saga. Despite poor reviews and soft sales, the book caught on via word-of-mouth, spawning a series of bestselling novels that, unsurprisingly, caught the eye of Hollywood producers eager to find the next "Star Wars." They failed. Repeatedly.

Peyote Western pioneer Alejandro Jodorowsky sought to craft a mind-bending epic out of Herbert's novel, and, as recounted in the un-making-of documentary "Jodorowsky's Dune," dreamed too big. David Lynch was the next man up, and I think, as a fan of the first few books, succeeded in delivering a wildly truncated, yet generally coherent rendition of the novel on his own delectably perverse terms. Alas, critics, audiences, and most Herbert fans didn't dig it, so the property...

Stars: John Cena, Alison Brie, Juan Pablo Raba, Christian Slater, Alice Eve, Marton Csokas, Sebastian Eslava | Written by Jacob Lentz | Directed by Pierre Morel

Freelance, the latest film from WWE star turned actor John Cena, delivers an engaging mix of action and comedy, elements that Cena has increasingly become known for. Directed by Pierre Morel, this film pairs Cena with Alison Brie in a fast-paced narrative that explores themes of survival and unexpected camaraderie.

In Freelance, Cena plays an ex-special forces operative who is lured out of retirement to protect a journalist (played by Alison Brie) on an assignment in a war-torn country. What begins as a seemingly straightforward protection detail quickly spirals into chaos as they find themselves embroiled in a political conspiracy, forcing them to rely on each other and their wits to stay alive.

Cena’s portrayal of a seasoned, yet somewhat jaded, operative showcases his growing versatility as an actor.

Kate Beckinsale was one of the leading actresses who made her breakthrough in the 90s in her small but impressive role as Her in Kenneth Branagh’s Much Ado About Nothing. She continued showcasing her incredible versatility in British costume films such as Prince of Jutland, Cold Comfort Farm, Emma, and The Golden Bowl.

Kate Beckinsale in 1996’s Emma

2001’s Pearl Harbor was her first tentpole studio film where she starred alongside Ben Affleck and Josh Hartnett. Director Michael Bay had a specific treatment that he wanted to have for the film depicting the horrible Pearl Harbor attacks. Going the commercial route rather than focusing on historical accuracy, the director had a weird demand for Beckinsale that proved to be humiliating for the actress.

Michael Bay Wanted Kate Beckinsale to Have a Stuffed Bra on Pearl Harbor

Kate Beckinsale played Lieutenant Evelyn Johnson in Pearl Harbor

Michael Bay took on...

Exclusive: Venezuelan Filmmaker Jonathan Jakubowicz, best known for Resistance and Hands of Stone, has signed on to direct the feature Cottonwood for Eric Paquette’s Meridian Pictures.

The film will be produced by Paquette, Aaron Barnett, and The Exchange’s Brian O’Shea, with Claudine Jakubowicz serving as executive producer. The Exchange will be handling worldwide sales and arranging financing.

The story follows a single dad who left his troubled past behind but must confront his dark history when his former mentor, a dangerous gangster, resurfaces. As the mentor’s loyalty to him is tested, he becomes the target of the gangster’s own bloodthirsty son, forcing him to protect his 13-year-old son from a relentless killer.

Jakubowicz was the winner of the German Film Peace Prize 2020 for his film Resistance. His film Secuestro Express was nominated for Best Foreign Language Film at the British Independent Film Awards, and Hands of Stone premiered at Cannes.

After directing three films in four years with Bone Tomahawk, Brawl in Cell Block 99, and Dragged Across Concrete, it’s now been six long years since the latest new feature from S. Craig Zahler. While he’s chimed in on his recent avorite films and beyond, it’s been fairly silent regarding his next potential project. We now finally have an update on what’s on his plate.

“A number of articles have announced The Big Stone Grid as my next picture, which is not quite correct,” Zahler noted on his blog. “I am sending that script around as a possible fifth movie, but I’ve made far more progress with another different original project to direct for my fourth one: I am negotiating deals to see if it will become a reality. I will give more information about this when things are more certain. Continue to look here for my next movie announcement.

Way back in 2011, Sony Pictures acquired a spec script titled The Big Stone Grid, which was written by S. Craig Zahler – who is best known these days for writing and directing the films Bone Tomahawk, Brawl in Cell Block 99, and Dragged Across Concrete. As of early 2012, Michael Mann was in talks to work on script revisions with Zahler and to direct the film. The Mann take on the material didn’t come to fruition, and four years later the project moved over to Lotus Entertainment, with Pierre Morel on board to direct. Morel couldn’t get it into production, either. Eight more years down the line, World of Reel reports that Zahler is now set to direct the film himself.

Part of the reason why Zahler has gone six years without directing a new film is the fact that the project he was pursuing, Hug Chickenpenny (an adaptation of...

At some point during the first act of Robert Lorenz’s handsome but egregiously hackneyed “In the Land of Saints and Sinners,” which is maybe the 900th Liam Neeson movie about a weary hitman/rancher/fixer/truck driver/ex-cop/very tall person who decides to take matters into his own hands when some bad guys step over the line, the prolific Irish actor turns to one of his scene partners and sighs: “There’s more to me than this, and I’d like folks to see it.”

Needless to say, the first part of that sentence is much easier to believe than the second.

Cast here as a regretful assassin who tries to change his ways at the height of the Troubles (only to get mixed up with a trio of Ira terrorists who take cover in his quaint coastal village after a car bomb goes wrong), Neeson again reaffirms...

Liam Neeson's new movie breaks his Rotten Tomatoes streak that consisted of eight straight movies deemed "Rotten." In the Land of Saints and Sinners could become one of Neeson's best action movies, showcasing his impressive status as an action star at 71. Neeson has more action/thriller genre films on the way, as well as a role in the upcoming Naked Gun remake, demonstrating his versatility and willingness to explore new roles.

Liam Neeson's new movie In the Land of Saints and Sinners has broken the actor's eight-movie Rotten Tomatoes streak, which lasted four years. The Northern Irish actor reinvented himself as an action hero when he starred in Pierre Morel's action-thriller Taken in 2008. Since then, the Oscar nominee has appeared in numerous action, crime, and thriller movies, with the most recent being his second collaboration with director Robert Lorenz, the thriller In the Land of Saints and Sinners.

Liam Neeson has a very particular set of skills, which apparently does not include embodying the Easter Bunny. In a skit on The Late Show, the actor auditioned to play the furry holiday rabbit, bringing an undeniable intensity to the popular verse, “Here comes Peter Cottontail, hopping down the bunny trail. Hippity hoppity, Easter’s on its way.”

When asked to keep it light, with the producer reminding Neeson the character is for children, Neeson explained, “Do you understand what’s happening here? He’s hopping down the bunny trail,...

Liam Neeson was 56 when his career took an unexpected detour into the action hero genre thanks to 2008’s Taken, a Pierre Morel-directed surprise blockbuster that raked in more than $226 million worldwide and kick-started a franchise. He’s kept up a respectable pace ever since, churning out high-octane thrillers one after the next — and he’s not ready to hang up his holster.

“Audiences are innately intelligent and they’ll know when you’re past your prime in regards to throwing punches and firing guns, but I’m not there yet,” explained Neeson over Zoom last week while discussing his newest film, In the Land of Saints and Sinners. The Samuel Goldwyn Films release casts Neeson, who will be 72 in June, as Finbar Murphy, a man leading a relatively quiet life in the remote coastal town of Glencolmcille, Ireland, in the 1970s. While he’s eager to leave a dark past behind,...

Exclusive: Pierre Morel, the veteran action director behind Taken, has been tapped to direct a feature based on the popular racing Nft Reactor Motors from the company of the same name, Deadline has learned.

The film will be produced by Morel, Mike Bundlie and Barry Levine of Abstract Entertainment, and Renee Tab of Sentient Entertainment.

Created by artist and Abstract co-founder Bundlie, Reactor Motors‘ storyline follows geophysicist Eva Mason as she accidentally discovers a new mineral she calls Reykium while researching geothermal energy in Iceland’s volcanoes. The mineral is energetically reactive to metal which she and her team convert into the future of clean energy race cars in hopes of making it globally available. Subsequently, her team’s racing wins catch the attention of an energy conglomerate that will do anything to acquire the Reykium engine.

“Pierre is the perfect director for Reactor with his...

Exclusive: UTA has signed acclaimed actor Rupert Friend for representation in all areas.

Up next, Friend will be seen in buzzy New Line thriller Companion opposite Sophie Thatcher, Jack Quaid, and Lukas Gage, as well as Michel Franco’s Dreams alongside Jessica Chastain and Lucio Castro, 2Am’s After This Death, and Pierre Morel’s Canary Black opposite Kate Beckinsale.

Most recently, he was seen at Sundance in The American Society of Magical Negroes, an acclaimed satire from writer-director Kobi Libii, which hits theaters via Focus Features on March 15.

Previously, Friend starred in the shorts The Swan and Ratcatcher, based on short stories by Roald Dahl, which Wes Anderson directed for Netflix. As a favorite of the filmmaker’s, Friend has also taken on prominent roles in his recent films Asteroid City and The French Dispatch.

Other notable film credits for the actor include The Death of Stalin, A Simple Favor,...

Fast And Furious franchise star Jordana Brewster and rising Australian actress Teagan Croft have joined Martin Henderson on XYZ Films and Sentient’s upcoming shark thriller Alphas, which has scored a raft of major pre-sales.

Signature has acquired the title for the UK, Australia & New Zealand, and Canada, SquareOne has picked up German-speaking Europe, and CDC and Zima will distribute in Latin America and Brazil.

Rights have also gone in Eastern Europe (Vertical Distribution), South Africa (Empire Entertainment), and Singapore (Shaw Renters).

Production on Alphas is scheduled to commence in Queensland this summer. Skyline franchise creator Liam O’Donnell will direct...

Dev Patel in Monkey Man Screenshot: Universal Pictures/YouTube The biggest snubs and surprises from the 2024 Oscar nominationsTry as they might, the Academy Awards will never get it 100 percent right. The 2024 list of nominees, which Zazie Beetz and Jack Quaid announced this morning in Los Angeles, was full of plenty...

Photo: Netflix, Warner Bros., Apple Original Films, A24, Amazon MGM Studios, Graphic: The A.V. Club, The A.V. Club, The A.V. Club, The A.V. Club, Screenshot: YouTube, Toho, Paramount, Warner Bros., Universal Pictures/YouTubeThe biggest snubs and surprises from the 2024 Oscar nominationsCharles Melton in May December, Margot Robbie in Barbie,...

Liam Neeson in Taken Screenshot: YouTube French director Pierre Morel’s Taken came out in U.S. theaters 15 years ago this month, meaning we’ve been able to intermittently enjoy a decade and a half of star Liam Neeson’s attempts to just do Taken again, and again and again and again.

Liam Neeson in TakenScreenshot: YouTube

French director Pierre Morel’s Taken came out in U.S. theaters 15 years ago this month, meaning we’ve been able to intermittently enjoy a decade and a half of star Liam Neeson’s attempts to just do Taken again, and again and again and again.

Tennis drama stars Zendaya, Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist.

In a strategic twist, Warner Bros will now release Luca Guadagnino’s Challengers in French cinemas. Prime Video had previously planned to skip a French theatrical release for the tennis drama starring Zendaya, Josh O’Connor and Mike Faist, and send it straight to its streaming platform locally. Following its release in theatres, the film will now have to wait 17 months before landing on Prime Video in France per the country’s media chronology.

While rumoured to be released on April 24 just ahead of its April 26 release date in the US via Amazon MGM Studios,...

Cena and Brie display zero chemistry a dumb adventure yarn set in a fictional South American state. It feels like it should be a satire of the genre, but isn’t

Taken director Pierre Morel gets it really, really wrong with this dumb, crude and not remotely entertaining action-comedy. The idea isn’t too bad: it’s about a former US special forces soldier who gets caught up in a South American coup after being hired as bodyguard to a journalist. You can picture Armando Iannucci running with the satirical possibilities, or a more serious-minded film-maker wading knee-deep into moral murk, John le Carré style. Instead, Morel, working with a script by Jacob Lentz, squanders the basic concept – not to mention the gym time that wrestler-turned-actor John Cena put in to get the upper body of a Greek god.

Cena plays Mason Pettits, a military veteran struggling with post-army life...

“Silent Night” marks John Woo’s first American action film since 2003’s all-too-fittingly titled “Paycheck,” and the legendary Hong Kong auteur seems eager to make up for lost time. There are at least two decades’ worth of John Woo-ness crammed into the opening minutes of this hyper-florid yuletide “Taken” riff, which starts with Joel Kinnaman — dressed in a Rudolph sweater, complete with a poofy 3D nose — sprinting after some Mexican gang members in slow-motion while a computer-generated red balloon drifts skyward in the distance and a music box twinkles over the soundtrack.

Despite the absence of flying doves, the sheer degree of a melodrama that’s infused into this otherwise unremarkable chase sequence leaves no doubt as to who must have directed it. And while the rest of “Silent Night” is so abysmal that its prologue might as well be the last hour of “Hard Boiled” by comparison, it’s...

“Freelance” is a new action comedy feature. directed by Pierre Morel starring John Cena, Alison Brie, Juan Pablo Raba, Alice Eve, Marton Csokas and Christian Slater, now screening in theaters:

“…years after retiring from the ‘Army’, a ‘Special Forces’ operator takes a job providing security for a female journalist as she interviews a cruel dictator.

“But when a military coup breaks out in the middle of the interview, the three are forced to escape into the jungle together…”

Click the images to enlarge…...

Revenge and vigilante films like Cold Pursuit provide closure and catharsis by delivering justice to the bad guys, satisfying our longing for retribution. Movies in this genre, such as Taken and Non-Stop, offer intense action sequences and a focus on characters seeking justice for loved ones, providing an engaging cinematic experience. Films like Death Wish and John Wick, with their gritty settings and moral ambiguity, resonate with Cold Pursuit and appeal to those who enjoy high body counts and stories of vigilante justice.

Cold Pursuit, released in 2019, has achieved a resurgence on Netflix and picked up in popularity, leading to an increased desire for similar movies. The film presents a unique take to the revenge thriller genre, with Liam Neeson leading Cold Pursuit's cast and characters as Nels Coxman, a father seeking vengeance for his son's murder. Films like Cold Pursuit have been a reliably popular genre, often infusing...

John Cena's latest movie, Freelance, has a 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, adding to his disappointing 2020s record. Cena's lead roles in Rotten-rated movies suggest directors may not rely on him for future projects. With upcoming comedy films and positive trailer reactions, Cena has a chance to repair his Rotten Tomatoes record.

John Cena's latest movie, Freelance, currently has a 0% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, a result that makes his 2020s record seem even more disappointing. Freelance stars Cena as a retired special forces operator tasked with protecting a journalist after a military coup breaks out during an interview. Co-starring Alison Brie, it has proven to be a disaster both critically and commercially, having only earned back a fraction of its budget at the box office.

The failure of Freelance based on its 0% on Rotten Tomatoes proves to be another dark stain on John Cena's acting career. His previous movie, Vacation Friends 2,...

One would be forgiven for having absolutely no idea that a new action/comedy starring Jon Cena and Alison Brie hit theaters this past weekend. "Freelance" did, indeed, arrive in more than 2,000 theaters and was straight-up buried by the horror sensation that is "Five Nights at Freddy's." It would be one thing for a movie to come in second -- or even third place -- against a blockbuster release like that. Unfortunately for those behind this film, however, it barely made it into the top 10.

Relativity Media's "Freelance" opened to just $2 million, coming in at number eight on the charts for the weekend, per The Numbers. It made less than "The Nightmare Before Christmas" ($2.1 million), which is in the second weekend of its 30th anniversary re-release, and little more than "Saw X" ($1.7 million), which has been in theaters for five weekends. The worst news of all? Cena and Brie's...

The American Film Market kicks off Oct. 31 and runs through Nov. 5 in its new headquarters at the Le Meridien Delfina in Santa Monica. Industry screenings are set at theaters throughout the city and AFM’s conference series, the AFM Sessions, will take place at the Hilton Santa Monica Hotel. More than 245 companies and organizations are exhibiting at this year’s AFM, with national pavilions from China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Thailand and the U.K. In all, buyers from more than 65 countries are registered at the film market.

Here are some of the buzziest titles at AFM 2023:

Alphas

Director: Liam O’Donnell

Producers: Pierre Morel, Renee Tab, Christopher Tuffin, Matthew Chausse, Drew Bailey

Key cast: Martin Henderson

Story is set in a quiet surfing community where killer whales are enlisted to fend off great white sharks after a series of attacks. When the alpha great white shark proves too powerful to stop,...

Stuart Ford’s AGC International has taken global rights outside the Middle East and Pakistan to “Voy! Voy! Voy!,” the hit dramedy about a group of impoverished Egyptians who join a professional blind soccer team as a ploy to get to Europe. The film is Egypt’s candidate for the international film Oscar.

“Voy! Voy! Voy!,” which marks the directorial debut of hotshot Egyptian commercials director Omar Hilal, is the tale of a financially struggling security guard named Hassan, who dreams of a better life. One day he stumbles upon the professional sport of blind soccer and cunningly decides to pose as a visually impaired man to join a team that is close to playing a World Cup tournament in Europe. On this journey, Omar intersects with several characters, including a female journalist who begins to take an interest in the team.

The dramedy is inspired by true events. In...